Discipline Inspections and the Transformation of Party Authority in China’s Banks

Abstract:CPC (Communist Party of China) networks in banks lead the way, forging new roles for the Party in economic governance. Drawing on digital traces left by Party-building activities, along with specialised scholarship in Chinese, this article analyses the CPC’s growing presence in everyday banking that has swiftly unfolded since 2015. A central finding is that discipline inspections with a broad mandate have triggered transformative change: Bankers adopt a new discourse submitting to the CPC’s open-ended authority, including extravagant displays of loyalty. Formal rules ranging from revised corporate charters to career incentive systems enshrine the Party’s authority. Banks’ involvement in Xi Jinping’s anti-poverty campaign has also established precedents for politically oriented banking.